Dive Details
Location
Date
Friday 20 November 2015
Time
11:03am - 12:35pm
Details
It was a stinking hot day in Sydney (the second hottest November day on record). I had to decide between cooking in my dry suit before the dive and knowing I'd be comfortable for the dive or chancing the wetsuit and being very cold if the water temperature had dropped. I went with the wetsuit as I knew I would at least warm up quickly after the dive.
Botany Bay was quite calm. There was almost no swell or wind and I was able to get in from the low platform. Visibility on the surface was not great and there was a bit of surge. I descended and headed to the sand line at around 60°. The visibility did not improve much on the way but at least the temperature stayed over 18°C.
I arrived at the end of the wall to the south east of the amphitheatre and Pygmy Rock. I swam along the sand line past Pygmy Rock and followed it to Seahorse Rock. Just past Seahorse Rock in the gap between the large rocks I found the large juvenile weedy seadragon (PT2015062401) we saw last weekend.
I continued on to Seadragon Alley where I saw three weedy seadragons: a male (PT2014030803) with the remnants of eggs, a large juvenile (PT2015091101) and my favourite weedy, the female with the deformed body (PT2014030901).
Between Seadragon Alley and Big Rock I found a male weedy (PT2014091301) with lots of eggs.
After Big Rock I swam up from the sand line to check out the pygmy pipehorse pair. I found the male (IL2015092701) immediately but it took me a while to locate the female (IL2015072601).
I dropped back to the sand line and found a male weedy (PT2015061401) with eggs. Interestingly, he didn't have any eggs when I saw him on Tuesday.
I swam on to Diversity Rock. I found the angler on the rock to the left, "Arnold" in the sponges on the rock behind and the male pygmy pipehorse (IL2015102401) in the Carijoa colonies. I couldn't see "Rosie" or "Noel". I had a close look at the big rock to the right to see if I could find "Greg" but I guess he's moved on. I swam back to Diversity Rock and then spotted "Rosie" a few centimetres from the angler. I'm not sure why I missed her before.
I went looking for the small Miamira magnifica on the larger rock above and to the left of Diversity Rock when I spotted a small yellow male pot-bellied seahorse. This was the second new seahorse in a little over a week and 6th since July. I will call him "Daniel".
I swam on to the rock where "Di" has been hoping she'd returned but I was not able to find her. I was getting low on air so I swam to the boulders and started my safety stop as I swam to my usual safety stop spot. After 5 minutes I swam to the exit and got out. It was a very easy exit as there was almost no swell.
Seas
Slight
Visibility
5 to 10 metres
Duration
91 minutes
Maximum depth
21.4 m
Average depth
13.6 m
Water temperature
18.2°C
Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand
Tides at Botany Bay AEDT
Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location.
High
3:46am
1.34m
Low
9:31am
0.62m
High
3:49pm
1.54m
Low
10:30pm
0.36m
Camera gear
Camera
Nikon D7000
Lens
Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D
Housing
Ikelite 6801.70
Lens port
Ikelite Flat Port 5502.41
Strobe
2 x Ikelite SubStrobe DS161
Photographs
Depth information, where present, indicates the depth of the camera when the photograph was taken and can be used to approximate the depth of the subject.
Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 20.8 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015062401). 19.4 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030803). 17.3 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015091101). 16.4 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030901). 16.1 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030901). 16.2 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030901). 15.9 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014091301). 14.6 m.
Eggs on the tail of a male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014091301). 14.5 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014091301). 14.2 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015092701). 12.1 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015092701). 12.1 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015092701). 12.1 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015092701). 12.1 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015061401). 14.4 m.
Eggs on the tail of a male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015061401). 14.4 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015061401). 14 m.
Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 13 m.
Red-fingered anlger, Porophryne erythrodactylus, ("Kim"). 12.4 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Arnold"). 12.2 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.5 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015102401). 12.5 m.
Dwarf lionfish, Dendrochirus brachypterus. 13.8 m.
"Rosie", Hippocampus abdominalis. 12.8 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015102401). 12.4 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015102401). 12.6 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015102401). 12.5 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Daniel"). 12.4 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Daniel"). 12.5 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Daniel"). 12.6 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Daniel"). 12.6 m.
Small nudibranch, Miamira magnifica. 11.5 m.
Small nudibranch, Miamira magnifica. 11.8 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Daniel"). 12.3 m.